Established in June 2019, the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance on Technology Governance unites municipal, regional and national governments, private-sector partners and cities’ residents around a shared set of principles for the responsible and ethical use of smart city technologies. The Alliance establishes and advances global policy norms to help accelerate best practices, mitigate potential risks, and foster greater openness and public trust.

This initiative, has grown steadily. over the past years. With strong leadership by C4IR Japan, the network has been working with 36 pioneer cities and has released six model policies to guide smart city development. The initiative is currently expanding in scale through regional cities communities in areas including India and Latin America and is piloting the model policies with government and business. Alliance activities have been guided by the Governing Smart Cities report developed to provide a benchmark for the ethical and responsible use of smart city technologies.

In 2020, the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance was recognised as a key initiative for leading urban technology governance, receiving the Governance & Economy Award at the 2021 Smart City Expo World Congress. The Alliance continues to expand, working with ‘Pioneer Cities’ to test roadmaps can trial policies and work with Alliance to address gaps in local governance.